Unary Count (Orion 1)

65 million years ago, Tharsis Plateau, Mars

The Venusians had been on Mars for nearly a century. Seventy percent of Mars's surface was covered by oceans, and the atmosphere had a high carbon dioxide content, making the climate warm and humid, though still somewhat cold compared to Venus.

The Venusian Martian bases were located near the Tharsis Plateau, an area rich in freshwater resources. The primary purpose of these bases was scientific research and the breeding of cold-resistant crops.

Upon landing at the Martian base, Nikola Tesla and Abbott encountered an old acquaintance, Colonel Feynman. As a representative of the Venus Alliance's high command, he was organizing and coordinating the expansion of the temporary Martian outpost.

"Colonel, when will the Alliance high command's transfer plan begin? There must be many difficulties," Abbott said to Colonel Feynman.

"Yes, there are too many difficulties. Besides insufficient transport capacity, the bigger problem is that these bases on Mars can only accommodate a few thousand people at most. Expansion is the most urgent task right now," Colonel Feynman replied.

Nikola Tesla pondered Mars's current conditions and available resources. Living space and land were not an issue.

Mars had a large land area and favorable terrain compared to Venus, with high mountains, hills, and deltas formed by the erosion of large rivers. The plains were fertile and suitable for cultivation.

Agriculture and animal husbandry could develop quickly with sufficient labor and the assistance of intelligent robots.

The Venusians had long entered the intelligent stage of the information age. If they were to immigrate to Mars, even if they could endure the drastic changes in living conditions and quality of life, they likely wouldn't tolerate regressing to an agrarian era.

Although Tesla and Abbott had already finalized the construction plan for the Vascular Superluminal Wave Power Station, it was not a task that could be completed overnight. Moreover, the construction of the power station itself required a massive amount of electricity.

"Electricity is the foundation of civilization, Colonel. I assume the first priority of the expansion work is to build more power stations?" Tesla asked.

Colonel Feynman affirmed Tesla's guess, stating that power station construction was indeed the primary task of the expansion work.

Due to Mars's greater distance from the Sun, its solar energy resources were far inferior to those of Venus and Earth. The existing electricity for the Martian bases primarily relied on a small nuclear power station built decades ago.

Abbott reminded Tesla that while he was in stasis, a nuclear power station on Venus had suffered an explosion. Subsequently, the Venus Alliance legislated a complete ban on the construction of nuclear power stations on Venus.

"So that's why you were so interested in my Superluminal Wave Theory and built the first Superlight Wave Power Station on Tower Island," Tesla asked Abbott.

"Alas, let's not talk about Venus. Let's discuss the Martian power station issue first," Colonel Feynman said, feeling helpless in front of the two technological titans. "The small nuclear power station on Mars was built outside of Venus, so the risk was isolated. However, if a large number of Venusians move here, the nuclear ban law will apply to Mars as well."

"Increasing nuclear power is not an option. We can utilize Mars's abundant hydroelectric resources to build a few dams and construct hydroelectric power stations," Dean Abbott said, calculating the potential power output of the hydroelectric stations.

Suddenly, he had an idea and asked Tesla, "The total installed capacity of hydropower might be far from enough. Can we build a tower-type Superlight Wave Power Station on the surface of Mars before the Vascular Superluminal Wave Power Station is completed?"

Tesla was startled and looked up, asking, "Aren't the lessons from the Venusian tower power station profound enough? You want to build another one on Mars?"

Abbott replied, "The Venusian power station's power output was too high, which led to the crisis. We can completely build a small, miniature power station on Mars."

Nikola Tesla understood Abbott's intention. The principle of a Superlight Wave Power Station involved constructing a continuous structure exceeding 180,000 kilometers in length. Because its length exceeded a full wavelength of superluminal waves, which is 170,360 kilometers, the structure would be illuminated by the superluminal wave's wavelength, absorbing a large amount of energy. This thermal energy would then be converted into electrical energy, thus becoming a Superlight Wave Power Station.

The output power of a Superlight Wave Power Station depended on the diameter of the structure. It could be understood as weaving carbon nanotubes into a rope; the power of the station depended on the thickness of the rope.

"Nikola, let's calculate seriously. If we use a thin rope to build a small Superlight Wave Power Station as a transitional solution before the Vascular Superluminal Wave Power Station, it should be feasible."

As Abbott spoke, he activated the holographic map of Mars. Mars, with its blue oceans and land covered in forests and rivers, floated clearly before the three of them.

Nikola Tesla's gaze fell upon the volcanic group on the Tharsis Plateau. He pointed to three volcanoes arranged in a neat line and said, "We can build the base of the tower-type power station in the crater of the middle one. The terrain here is flat, and no trees need to be cut down, making the construction conditions quite good."

"Another advantage is that the crater is a channel connected to Mars's internal magma. We can better monitor the internal thermal reactions of Mars. If the crater doesn't show significant geological changes, then other areas will definitely be safe," Abbott added.

Colonel Feynman looked at the four volcanoes on the Martian surface—one large and three small—and asked curiously, "These three small volcanoes are almost identical in height and diameter, lined up side by side with almost equal spacing, forming a triangle with the large volcano. And this large volcano is exactly at the vertex of the triangle. This shape is too regular. It looks artificial."

Abbott recalled a conjecture Tesla had mentioned to him over a hundred years ago, back when they were both students. He pointed to Tesla and said mysteriously to Colonel Feynman, "Regarding this issue, Mr. Tesla once had a mind-blowing idea."

In his student days, Nikola Tesla was an avid astronomer. He spent nights observing Martian topography through his telescope, and the craters on Mars particularly interested him.

Mars was dotted with volcanoes, but there weren't many large ones. The largest ones were arranged in regular geometric shapes, making it hard to believe they were naturally formed.

After the Venusians launched orbital probes around Mars, more high-definition images were sent back to Venus. One night, Nikola Tesla burst into Abbott's dormitory, waving two pictures and exclaiming incoherently, "Look, this is the distribution map of one large and three small craters on Mars. This one is the distribution map of one large and three small stars in Orion. Their geometric shapes are almost identical."

Abbott's major was physics, but he was also well-versed in astronomy.

The main star of Orion is Betelgeuse, with a mass over 900 times that of the Sun, and it is the tenth brightest star visible to the naked eye in the sky.

Southeast of Betelgeuse are three stars of smaller brightness and size: Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka. The three small stars form a straight line from lower left to upper right, with nearly equal apparent spacing.

"Huh, the shapes of these two diagrams are indeed identical. What's amazing is that they are both perfect geometric figures. The universe is truly a masterpiece of divine craftsmanship!" Abbott exclaimed.

Nikola Tesla proposed his bold conjecture. He believed that Orion in the sky might be a clever arrangement by the universe, but could the identical crater formations on Mars be artificial imitations of Orion?

Colonel Feynman listened to Tesla's deduction, looking bewildered, and asked, "The craters were artificially made? That couldn't have been the work of Venusians. Are you suggesting that there were humans on Mars in the past?"

"There are dinosaurs on Earth, and there are fish on Mars. Why assume that only Venus can nurture intelligent life? Perhaps humans once existed on Mars many years ago, only to become extinct," Tesla replied logically and reasonably.

"Martians? According to your theory, these craters were left by extinct Martians? Then why would they create such symmetrical geometric patterns?" Feynman asked.

"I believe it's a form of a hint. Millions or even tens of millions of years ago, as the Martians faced extinction, they left these symbols to guide new intelligent life that might appear in the Solar System, such as us Venusians."

On Mars, the arrangement of one large and three small craters mirrors the four stars of Orion. In the early stages of primitive evolution, intelligent life in various tribes invariably learned to count pebbles. The three neatly arranged small stars could easily be interpreted as "111." A continuous sequence of "1"s arranged by position is called a unary count in mathematics, the most primitive form of number (pebble) arrangement that early humans could easily understand.

The same unary count represents different values in different number systems. Nikola Tesla pondered, if Martians truly existed before, what were they trying to hint at to us Venusians with "111"?

Betelgeuse is the tenth brightest star visible to the naked eye. The Martians believed that even if we Venusians were in a primitive stage, we could discover the brightness ranking of stars in the sky. It reminds us that "10" is a special number, implying the decimal system?

If this idea seems far-fetched, then the possibility of the craters being arranged in "111" by coincidence is significantly smaller.

"111" in binary is 7, and in ternary it is 13. The direction is not unique! Besides, what does the triangle mean? A form of architecture?

Tesla thought to himself, if it were me, with the purpose of reminding future generations, I would definitely leave clearer clues.

Thinking this, Tesla gave a wry smile, hoping he wouldn't encounter a situation that required reminding future generations in this way.

As a keen scientist, he intuitively felt that "111" hinted at "7" in binary.

That is to say, if Martians truly existed, they likely hinted at us using decimal and binary.

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